LP 257 
.W33 
1855 
Copy 1 




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EEPORT 

OF THE 

TRUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 

ON THE 

Condition of the ScJiool Houses^ and the Apariment-y 

rented for the use of those School?^ in the City of 
Washington. 



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Office of Trustees of Pubuc Schools, 

Washingtox, March 19, 1855. 
To Silas H. Hill, Esq., President of the Board of Aldermen, and Dr. Alexander 
McD. Davis, President of the Board of Common Council : 
Gentlemen ; I am directed by the Trustees of the Public Schools to submit to 
the Board of Aldermen, and the Board of Common Council, the accompanying 
report on the condition of the buildings owned or rented by the Corporation, 
and occupied as school-houses, and respectfully to ask for the statements and 
recommendations therein made the early and favorable consideration of the 
City Councils. 

I have the honor to be, gentlemen, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

GEORGE J. ABBOT, Secretary. 



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In Board of Aldermen, March 26, 1855. 
Read, and referred to the committee on Public Schools, and ordered to be 
printed. 

E. J. MIDDLETOX, Secretary. 



'apV 5*; 190-4 



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V EEPOKT 

^ OF TEE 



TIIUSTEES OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 



To the Board of Aldermen and Board of Common Council: 

Gentlemen : Immediately after the organization of the present Board 
in November List, the Trustees of the Public Schools entered upon the 
discharge of their official duties. During the past four months, the 
Trustees and Officers of the Board, in addition to the usual regular and 
special meetings, have made, in the aggregate, five hundred and 
twenty-nine visits to the several schools. 

They have endeavored, by personal inspection and supervision, by ex- 
amination of the pupils, by conversation with the Teachers, to become 
thoroughly acquainted with the practical operation of the Public School 
system, with its wants and deficiencies, its ability to furnish a large 
portion of the youth of both sexes, in this city, with the elements of 
a good and substantial education ; they have seen with satisfaction the 
improvements and progress already made, and heretofore brought to the 
attention of the two Boards, and observed the difficulties that are now 
encountered, and the obstacles that prevent or retard the accomplish- 
ment of those beneficent results which, elsewhere, have crowned with 
success the labors of the friends of popular education. 

Reserving till a later peiiod, and to their usual annual communica- 
tion, the presentation of various topics, connected with the interests of 
the Public Schools, which have been suggested by their observation 
and reflection, the Trustees deem it an imperative duty to submit, at 
this time, to the consideration of the Councils, a brief statement of the 
condition of the apartments and buildings in which the Public Schools 
are kept, and some of the evils necessarily attendant upon the present 
state of things. 

In regard to these apartments and buildings, it may be said, in gene- 
ral, and subject to the exceptions herein made, that they are ill adapted 
to the purposes for which they are used ; they are deficient in space for 
the accommodation of the pupils and Teachers; in facilities for ventila- 
tion ; in suitable means for the admission of air and light ; and they are vso 
contracted, as necessarily to compel Teachers and pupils to breathe a viti- 
ated atmosphere, thereby inducing weariness, languor, headache, nervous 
irritability, and promoting the development of pulmonary and other 
diseases. In many instances, which have been brought to the notice 



of the Trustees, pupils Lave suffered from serious illness, the cause of 
■vvhich might be traced to the Public School-rooms. Some of the school- 
rooms are imperfectly warmed, badly located, difficult of approach, 
have little or no ground, except the public street, for the recreation of 
the pupils, or for the necessary out-buildings, and are unattractive, if not 
repulsive in their external appearance; and furnished with but little 
apparatus and with but few of the instiumeuts and means of instruction, 
which almost everywhere are considered indispensable in well regulated 
and well provided school-rooms. 

It is not without astonishment that the Trustees have seen, after the 
lapse of so long a period since the establishment of the first Public School 
in this city, that so little progrees has been made here iu school ar- 
chitecture. In comparison with what has been done for PublicSchools 
in places much less favorably situated, Washington piesents an un- 
favorable contrast. Many of the gentlemen of the Councils in their 
private or official visits to other cities have been invited to enter the 
Public School-houses, tliey have admired their simple architectural 
beauty, convenience, and adaptation to the purposes for which they were 
designed, and have been struck with the order and harmony that reigned 
within, and seen with satisfaction the progress of the pujtiis, and wit- 
nessed the proofs of their intellectual discipline. But this Board have 
yet to learn that, in a single instance, when these official visits have been 
returned, the delegations have been invited into our Public Schools. 

It is certainly with mortification that the Trustees are sometimes 
called upon to exhibit our school-houses to those friends of public 
education who often visit the Metropolis. 

Fifty years ago the following preamble to the bill for the establish- 
ment of the first Public School was adopted by the City Councils of 
Washington. 

"Impressed with a se^se of the inseparable connexion between the 
education of youth and the prevalence of pure morals, with the duty of 
all communities to place within the reach of the poor, as well as the 
rich, the inestimable blessings of knowledge, and with the high neces- 
sity of establishing at the Seat of the General Government^>?-o;jfr semi- 
naries of learning,'"the city Council do pass an act to establish aud endow 
a permament institution for the education of youth in the City of Wash- 
ington." 

Such was the tone of public sentiment manifested at that early period* 
when the city was poor and its necessities pressing. 

What has been done in half a century towards erecting school-houses 
and providing for the intellectual wants of a large and rapidly increas- 
ing youthful population? The Corporation now supports twenty-four 



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Schools and employs tliirlyseveu Teachers, who have charge of about 
twenty-two liundved i)iipils. It owns but five school-houses, while 
it rents seventeen. 

In the First District all the school apartments are rented with the ex- 
ception of one old building, which was formerly Jefterson's stable, but 
now is used, by permission of the Government, as a school-room. Its 
condition has been brought so oUen to the notice of the Council:?, and 
its unsuitableness is so apjiarent that any further remarks upon it are 
considered unnecessary. The Trustees earnestly renew the recommen- 
dation, which has so often been made, that immediate steps be taken to 
provide for the wants of this Distiict, either by the purchase or by the 
erection of a suitable school building. 

In the Second District tlie school-house in Judiciary Square is the prop- 
erty of the city. It was originally designed to accommodate two Teachers 
and one hundred and twenty pupils, it is actually occupied by four 
Teachers and two hundred and twenty-nine pupils. 

Of course the space for the operations of the Teachers and pupils is 
very contracted, and much inconvenience is experienced from the noise 
occasioned by the recitations and exercises of the pujiils in adjoining 
apartments, which are only separated by a thin board partition. The 
pupils of the Female Department are obliged, in entering and leaving 
their room, to pass through tliat of the Primary School, kept in the 
same building, and the jnipils of the Senior Division of the Male De- 
partment, in the same manner, pass through the room occui)ied by the 
Junior Division, thus causing much interruption to the exercises of 
schools; all these inconveniences, and many others which might be enume- 
rated, may be corrected by extending the school-house towards the east^ 
which could be done at comparatively little expense. As the extension of 
this building might mar the symmetry of its appearance, it may perhaps 
be thought more advisable to erect another building on the same square, 
which is large enough for the purpose, fitted to accommodate all the 
primary schools of the District, and permit the present building to be 
occupied only by two Teachers and the District School pupils, as it 
was originally intended. 

In the Third District the building occupied by the Male Department 
of the District School is the property of the city. It was originally 
designed for one Teacher and about sixty pupils, it is actually occujiied 
by two Teachers, and the number of pupils is limited to one liundred and 
forty, the accommodations are so poor that only one hundred and eigh- 
teen are members of the school at the present time. The Councils will, 
doubtless, perceive the propriety of rebuilding this school-house, in which 
event it may be deemed expedient to secure another lot of larger size, 



and one that would furnisli more ample accommodations. Heretlie pupils 
are so crowded together, that three or four occupy the space intended 
for two, many of them sit upon seats without backs, and are thus sub- 
jected to the danger of physical injury and permanent deformity. 

Primary School No. 1, of this District, occupies the building formerly 
known as the Eastern Market House, the location of which is well 
known ; a recent purchase has been made of Odd-Fellows Hall, which 
affords comparatively comfortable, though somewhat contracted accom- 
modations for two schools. It is unfortunately without sufficient ground 
for the recivation of the pupils. 

In the FourthDistrict, owing to the wisdom and foresight of Mr. Seaton, 
the former Mayor of this city, a spacious lot was purchased about ten 
years ago when land was cheap, a good building was erected, which, 
since its enlai'gement, a short time ago, makes, in most i-espects, an ex- 
cellent and comfortable school-house ; a small appropriation to furnish 
it with a few books of reference for the Teachers and pupils, a little 
philosophical apparatus for the illustration (;f the studies taught in the 
school, and the improvement of its ample play grounds by the planting 
of a few shade trees, are all that are now wanting to render this building 
and its grounds entirely respectable. All the other apartments now 
occupied by scliools ai-e rented. 

Ten Teachers, and about seven hundred pupils, which is the limited 
number, are ])laced in five basements of Churches, which, with one or two 
exceptions, arc, in part, below the surface of the ground, and may not 
iniproperly be called ccllai s ; they are more or less damp, generally with 
low ceilings, diinly lighted, and badly ventilated and with no separate play 
grounds for the two sexes ; much inconvenience is experienced from hear- 
ing the school exercises and recitations by two Teachers, at the same 
time, in one small apartment. Nine of the remaining schools are kept 
in separate rooms, which generally have the characterisiics of those that 
have been already mentioned. 

Through the liberality of the Councils in granting appropriations suffi- 
cient to pay a high rent, the Trustees have been able to procure for the 
schools taught by Miss Middletou, Miss Lowe, Mrs. Coale, and Miss Hen- 
shaw, excellent accommodations. 

The following extracts are taken from communications addressed to 
the Secretary by some of the Teachers, in compliance with his request. 

One Teacher writes, that "the school is sul)ject to many inconveniences, 
that are unvoidable under present arrangements. For instance, the 
only way of access to it is through the room of the Primary School. 
Between the two rooms there is a thin plank partition without a door. 
This is necesarily a restraint upon the Teachers in each room, as the 



voices of the pupils in readino; and recitation are oblitjed lobe subdued 
to enable the Teachers, as far as possible, to avoid annoying each other. 
Moreover, the seats are too much crowded for cither hoaltl), comfort, or 
good order, and the young ladies, instead of having it in their power to 
acquire an easy and graceful carriage, are unable to move across the 
room without jolting each other." 

Another says, ^^ My school room is not large enough for forty pupils 
at most, consequently, we are often crowded entirely too much for 
proper attention to study, especially as my usual number of pupils is 
seventy." 

"The only access to the District School is through my room, an in- 
convenience which is better imagined than described, as there are not 
ten minutes in the day that some one is not passing." 

Two others write: "Many objections exist to the use ot a church for 
school purposes, some of which are meetings in the adjacent room, 
large furnaces and gas-fixtures, and meetings in the school-room, caus- 
ing it to be open so much that the Teacher cannot be responsible for 
anything in it. The reputed dampness also producing sickness, and 
interfering with the attendance of the pupils. The absence of suffi- 
cient light should not be overlooked, for in cloudy weather it is diffi- 
cult to go on with the regular routine of school duty. Another gi-eat 
evil is the occupancy of a room by more than' one Teacher, the calling 
of different rolls, two or raoi'e classes reciting at once, and the Teachers 
giving directions to their respective pupils at the same time. This, 
with lowness of the ceiling, makes it no easy task to preserve order." 

Two others report : That "our school is in a basement-room, being, we 
think, some three feet under ground, it is quite damp; our own health, 
as well as that of others, has, I am fully convinced, suffered in conse- 
quence. The adjacent play ground is wet and marshy, and not unfre- 
quently the children are compelled to spend their liour of recreation 
in the room instead of taking exercise in the open air." 

Another says : " My school-room, at some seasons of the year, answers 
very well, but in winter it is always damp. The yard cannot pos- 
sibly be made pleasant, and it is so situated, in the rear of the surround- 
ing dwelling houses, that it is too often made the receptacle of unsightly 
and disagreeable objects ; but for its objectionable points to be fully 
realized they must be seen." 

Another writes: " No amount of wood which I can burn will render 
118 comfortable, for the building is placed immediately upon the ground, 
in a spot always damp, and so imperfectly constructed that the air con- 
stantly searches the wide cracks, making warm feet an impossibility 
from the beginning to the close of the school. 



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" Study induces heat of the brain, the lieated stove joined to exposure 
of the feet fearfully increases this. Tiie only relief from dizziness is to 
open a door or window, ueither of which aie so situated as to guard 
against great exposure fioni draughts. It is no uncommon circum- 
stance for a child to fall ill in school, many sufier from slow bleeding 
at the nose, probably induced by the above cause." 

The expense of the system of renting school rooms is a large item, 
and one which is annually growing larger, while at the same time the 
difficulty of obtaining rooms, even of the inditierent character which 
has been described, is constantly increasing. 

The amount appropriated the present year for rent of rooms is 
|1, 675, which is the interest of more than $27,000. To this must be 
added the expenses incurred by frequent removals from one place to 
another, also the losses arising from not having, in many cases, proper 
out-houses for the security of wood and coal, and the expenses incurred 
by the care of many small school-houses, instead of a few large ones; 
much time is also lost by Teachers and pupils in consequence of sickness 
occasioned by breathing, for a long i)eriod, impure air, or by colds 
and other diseases mduced by exposure to the wet and mud through 
which they are sometimes obliged to pass, in order to reach their res- 
pective schools. 

In the opinion of the Trustees, the present mode of renting school- 
rooms has nothing to recommend it on the score of economy, health, or 
public convenience. 

The Trustees believe it to be due to those faithful Teachers whose ach- 
ing heads and tortured nerves, are rendered exquisitely sensitive by the 
by the wearing labors of a most trying and responsible profession — 
whose physical systems are sinking under the oppressive weight of toil- 
some labors — made a thousand fold more difficult by the circumstances 
"under which they are working — due to the thousands of pupils of both 
sexes who throng these schools, and who with greater or less prepara- 
tion will soon be pressing foward with eager haste to enter upon the 
active duties of life — due to the fathers and mothers of these children 
who have placed their most cherished treasures in the public care ; and 
especially due to the credit, respectability, and character of the city 
that bears the name of Washington, that immediate and energetic 
measures be taken to erect and furnish suc'i a number of school build- 
ings at the expense of the Corporation as will be sufficient to accommo- 
date, in all respects, the pupils of our Public Schools. 

The Trustees accordingly renew the recommendation made by a Com- 
miltee of the Common Council in 1842, which the experience of twelve 
years has proved to have been eminently wise and judicious, and which 



was referred to, with coramendatiou, in the last annual report of the 
Board, iu respect to the expediency of coininencino; immediately the 
erection of substantial school-houses, in those parts of the city in which 
the most pressing- necessity for tlioni exists, 

Tlie Ti'ustees, in conclusion, beg leave to refer to former reports of 
the Board on this subject, and more especially, to the annual message 
of the Mayor, presented to the Councils in the mouth of October lost. 

The Board concurs entirely on the subject of school-houses, and of 
their influence both on pupils and teachers, in tlie views presented by 
Mr. Barnard, (who has done more than any other person to improve 
school architecture, and to whom the whole country is indebte 
for his services in the Public School cause,) and with which they conclude 
their report. There is a close connection between a good school-house 
and a good school ; to make an edifice good for school purposes, it 
should be built for children at school, and their teachers; for children 
diflfering in age, size, sex, and studios, and therefore requiring different 
accommodations ; for children engaged sometimes in study, and some- 
times in recitation ; for children whose health and success in study 
require that they shall be frequently, and every day, iu the open air 
for exercise and recreation, and at all times supplied with pure air to 
breathe ; for children who are to occupy it iu the hot days of summer, 
and the cold days of winter, and to occupy it for periods of time in 
different parts of the day, in positions which become wearisome, if 
the seats are not, in all respects, comfortable, and Avhich may affect 
symmetry of form and length of life, if the construction and relative 
heights of the seats and desks which they occupy are not properly 
attended to ; for children whose manners and morals — whose habits of 
order, cleanliness and punctuality — whose temper, love of study, and 
of the school, are in no inconsiderable degree aftected by the attractive 
or repulsive location and appearance, by the inexpressive out-door ar- 
rangements, and the internal construction of the place where they spend 
or should spend a large part of the most impressible period of their 
lives. 

This place, too, it should be borne in mind, is to be occupied by a 
teacher, whose own health and daily happiness are aflfacted by most of 
the various circumstances above alluded to, and whose best plans of 
order, classification, discipline and recitation, may be utterly baffled, or 
greatly promoted, by the manner in which the school-house may be 
located, lighted, warmed, ventilated, and seated. 

All which is respectfully submitted by direction of the Trustees of 
Public Schools. 

GEORGE J. ABBOT, Secretary. 



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NOTE. 

Since the presentation of the foregoing Report, the Secretary has re- 
ceived from the Principal of RugLy Academy, the following letter, in 
respect to the sale of that building to the city, which he begs leave to 
submit to the Councils. In addition to what Mr. Morison has said, it 
may be stated that by the removal of a few partitions, the building 
will aiford ample space for four schools, each consisting, at least, of sixty 
pupils, and three primary schools, of oue hundred and fifty pupils each. 
There would remain, besides, a hall for lectures and exhibitions, capable of 
seating five hundred persons, a parlor for visitors, and ten other rooms, 
well adapted for recitation rooms, for the reception of philosophical 
apparatus, minerals, for hats and clothes, &c. &c., some of which could 
hereafter, if necessary, be easily fitted for school-rooms, besides leaving 
good accommodation for the Janitor and his family, who should have 
the care of the building. 

Should the Corporation conclude to purchase the property, it is be- 
lieved the terms could be made satisfactory, both as regards the price, 
and the terms of payment. 

Washington, April, 1855. 

Dear Sir : I beg leave to present the following particulars respect- 
ing the building known as Rughy Academy. When I drew the plans 
for the house, I designed establishing a High School of the first order. 
The house was intended to receive three hundred pupils, with accom- 
modations for seventy-five boarders. The building extends forty-four 
by ninety-four feet, and is four stories in height. The first floor 
consists of five rooms, one of which will accommodate sixty, and 
another, one hundred and fifty scholars. These rooms would be adapt- 
ed to the grammar school. The second floor has a like number of 
rooms, and includes parlors, library, recitation room, and lecture 
room. These apartments are all large and lofty, being fourteen feet in 
the clear. The lecture room will form one of the finest school-rooms 
in the country, it will seat one hundred and fifty pupils. The reci- 
tation room is twenty feet square. This floor would accommodate the 
Department of the High School. The third floor consists of eleven 
rooms, these were designed as chambers in the front building, and reci- 
tation rooms in the back ; if desired, these rooms can be thrown into 
one, which will seat one hundred and fifty of the primary pupils. The 
fourth story contains seven rooms, one of which will accommodate one 
hundred and fifty scholars ; the recitation room adjoining is twenty 
feet square. Each school-room can have a small room for caps, cloaks, 
<fec., cut off from each landing. The building, by this arrangement, 



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will accommodate six hundred or more pupils, and allow recitation 
rooms in each department. After deducting accommodations for school 
purposes, there remain dining room, kitchen, two parlors, and eight 
chambers. Above the fourth story, in front building, there is space for 
four garret rooms, at present unfinished. The grounds cover a surface 
of nearly eight thousand feet. Land can be purchased east of the 
property for a more extensive play-ground, gymnasium, <fec. I send 
you a lithograph and plan of the house, which will give all necessary 
information. The property is extensive and well constructed, the foun- 
dation walls being of stone, and three feet thick. The external walls are 
eighteen and fourteen inch throughout, partition walls nine inch. 
The flooring is of North Carolina, and the trimmings neat and 
massive. The window caps and sills are iron, marble, granite, &c. 
There are two entrances and stair-ways, all necessary out-houses, pump 
of the best water in the yard, with large tank in fourth story. The 
work was done by the best mechanics, and materials used of the best 
quality. It will afford me ple«sure to show the building to any one 
you may send to inspect it. I sincerely believe the property is one 
adapted to your purpose, it will aflbrd accommodations to your pupils, 
with every comfort and convenience to a large number of Teachers. 
I remain, sir, your obedient servant, 

G. F. MORISON. 

P. S. — I had the property appraised last year, previous to selling it 
to the Roman Catholics, when it was pronounced to be worth $23,000. 
I have recently been informed by two contractors it would cost $16,000 
to erect a similar building. These items may be of interest in consider- 
ing the property as a school, and in forming an opinion of its value. 

Respectfully, &c., 

G. F. MORISON. 

6. J. Abbot, Esq. 




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